


The Stereoscope

by Christine M (HowNovel)



Category: Starman (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 1993-09-28
Updated: 1993-09-28
Packaged: 2017-11-06 03:43:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,417
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/414329
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HowNovel/pseuds/Christine%20M
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Shortly after their discussion of the "local option",  when Scott tries to convince Paul that Scott doesn't have to attend school, father and son visit an antique shop, where Paul becomes fascinated by the images in an old stereoscope. The experience brings them closer together, and enroute to a magical place.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Stereoscope

**Author's Note:**

> Editor’s Note: this story occurs after the episode “Like Father, Like Son”

THE STEREOSCOPE  
a STARMAN vignette  
by Christine M

Dedicated to Gayle W and Teresa E, Stereoscope Buffs

(The author acknowledges a debt to all previous STARMAN writers, and apologizes for any unintentional borrowing; this is an amateur story, and intends no infringement of copyright)

 

In a small town south of the Oregon border a man and his teenage son stopped their dusty blue car and got out gratefully to stretch their legs. Their leisurely movements gave no Indication that not long before, they had narrowly escaped being trapped and harried by a government man named Fox: indeed, they were unaware of the fact themselves. As far as they knew, the only things they had to worry about right now were finding the boy's mother and getting him into a school.

(Well. actually. they did have a few other things to worry about—but that's another part of the story. Foremost on Scott's mind, for now, was figuring out a way to make the Starman forget about school. Though his improvisation of an ideal educational system called "Local Option" had failed to fool his father, he still hoped to find a way to keep some space between himself and the next school registration office.)

Most people would have taken them at face value—a father and son on vacation, coming back from spending Quality Time at some camping place like Spirit Lake up north—but a few might have noticed some odd dynamics, a strangeness between the two, which showed that they didn't really know one another very well. (In fact, Scott had called Starman "Dad" for the first time earlier that day.) To strangers, the man looked a bit worn from travel; he carried a camera case, and had an ineffably pleasant, attractive manner, though he seemed unconscious of his own charm. He was unusually careful and attentive in his dealings with the boy. His son was thin and full of energy (an experienced parent might guess that he was in the middle of a growth spurt), and he was of an age to prefer sneaking off to a video arcade—yet he seemed reluctant to let the man out of his sight. Indeed, the boy appeared to be keeping an eye on his father's behavior, rather than (as one might expect with such a pair) the other way around.

The proprietor of the store called "ANTIQUES" was the kind of person who would notice that strangeness about Starman and Scott, but he was also a friendly man, not given to suspicion. His world was a benign place, peopled by the sort of ghosts who had delighted in the amusing things of this world and who were happy now to leave these objects in his care until he found good new homes for them. His overhead was low and his health was fine. Even when he didn't make a sale he enjoyed sharing his collection (for so it was, even more than inventory) with people who dropped in on their way to more important destinations.

This father and son, now, were intriguing. The man was curious about everything, even mundane objects such as milk cans and washboards. The boy, who clearly had no interest whatsoever in "this old stuff" (the phrase. uttered in raised voice, was impossible not to overhear) was nevertheless doing quite a lot of explaining to the father whenever a new object was encountered.

The proprietor wondered what was being said— _what could the boy be telling the man that someone of his generation would not already know about a plastic model of a Klingon battle cruiser, for instance, or a set of marbles?_ But he was in the habit of letting prospective customers browse in privacy. He knew that many people were more likely to buy something if left alone with their fancies so that the love for an object could sneak up on them, take hold and grow. Acquisitive appreciation, he had found, could thrive in such a no-pressure atmosphere. So Starman and Scott were left to explore the odd assortment of artifacts from this and previous worlds—the ordinary and the precious, the old brass bedsteads and the scarred kitchen tables, the poster for a Garland concert and the program from a Wilde play, the wind-up toys and the kitchen grinders, the doll houses and the ruby slippers, the bulb diggers and the orange sorters, the porcelain lilies and the silk irises, the worn paperback romances and the leatherbound classics, the skip-ropes and jacks and Wonder Woman comics, the drawers full of dollies and lost family photos.

 _Bingo!_ thought the store owner to himself when the man with the camera case picked up an antique wooden and tin object whose purpose was something like that of a modern slide viewer. It had two lenses (one for each eye) through which the user viewed cardboard "slides", each having two seemingly identical images side by side. Starman soon divined the purpose of the gadget and began sliding picture after picture into it, fascinated by the interplay of the lenses, the double photos, and his own human body's ocular mechanism, all working together to create an illusion of three dimensions. His brain experienced the sights as "realistic", yet the visions lured his spirit to be lost in times and cultures far away.

Starman, who in his original form could perceive and even manipulate matter on the molecular level (at light speed); who had the intellectual capacity to comprehend many dimensions and densities; who had mapped distant stars—Starman was utterly enchanted by these simple images of this world. They had had the power to charm other humans many years ago, and they worked on him now:

"Above the Flora Rise the Towers of the Grand Palace, Nicaragua, C.A.", said one; "The Great Pyramids of Giza, Egypt, As Seen From the Tramway", said another; "Avenue of Oaks and Spanish Moss, Bayou, Louisiana"; "The Grande Boulevarde, Paris, France"; "The Hanging Gardens, Babylon"; "Las Palmas Avenue, Los Angeles, Cal."—the machine opened world upon world to Starman's eyes.

"Whoa-ho!" exclaimed Scott (who finally forgot to be world-weary) "—a Stereoscope! I've read about these! When I was a kid, there was this book about these kids who..."

But the store owner had finally scented a sale, and couldn't help drifting over In Starman's direction. ''You a photography buff?" he asked. "Looks like that's got your name on it!"

Starman Inspected the stereoscope, puzzled. All he saw was the word “Magnificat” etched into the metal, beneath a beautiful picture of an antlered deer: on the underside of the device he read, "Patent April 16 '04."

"Yep, that's a real old one. Nineteen-Aught-Four, as my old uncle used to say, "went on the owner, growing garrulous." Lost the handle, but champagne cork works just fine. That's why it's so cheap—it needs some fixing up. That's some wonderful history you're holding in your hands there. Gonna buy it and take it home with you?" he asked cheerfully.

"Home." said Starman quietly, looking for a moment into the middle distance. Then, "No, we don't have any extra money today. But look at this one!"

The owner philosophically gave up the hope of finding such an appropriate buyer for his stereoscope and, interested, took a look to see which picture the man had chosen. When he put his eyes to the lenses he saw, not for the first time, an antique view of three ladies, in old fashioned dress, on horseback. They—and he, the viewer—were gazing out over a vast chasm, with tall mountains on the other side. "Yosemite Valley, Great Western United States, North America” said the caption.

''This is beautiful." said Starman. "Yo-se-mite. I'd like to go to this place."

"It's pronounced Yo-se-mi-tee, Dad," Scott said, and then he looked at his unpredictable father with heightened interest. "You can! I mean, WE can. It's still there! It's not far from here!”

Do they have the 'Local Option' there too?" asked the Starman, and he and Scott left the store jostling each other, both laughing at this family joke, and waving a happy good-bye to the proprietor.

''Too bad they couldn't afford this," the owner thought to himself as he put the stereoscope back on its shelf. He felt an uncharacteristic regret at seeing these particular customers leave, but he had enjoyed seeing them exit his store in such harmony with each other. "Yosemite's a fine place to go," he mused, and he wished them well.

THE END


End file.
